by E. M. Moore
She pouts. “I wonder how long this will last. Who knows if my mate will even want to see me? He probably thinks I’ll bail like Robbie.” Luckily, she lets out an exasperated breath and runs up the stairs. With just Nathan and me, we don’t have to pretend.
“If her mate was worth anything, he would contact her before she does what Robbie did,” I mutter.
Nathan still hasn’t said a word, so I slowly move my gaze to him. He has a death grip on the stool pulled up to the island. It’s the same chair Sean sat in yesterday.
I lower my voice. “He said if I didn’t want to be seen as another Robbie, I had to go.”
The chair groans under his attention. There’s so much pressure on the wood that it might snap. “He has us by the balls. You couldn’t say no.”
I want to call him out for the balls remark, but as a metaphor, he’s right. I’m stuck. “At least it’s at my parents’ house,” I offer. “They’re upset, but they wouldn’t let anything happen to me.” I think.
Well, I guess I’ll find out, anyway.
“I need to get you a phone,” Nathan rumbles. “You can’t go there with zero way of communicating with me if you need it.”
“I doubt the alpha cares that I need a phone.”
The doorbell rings, and Nathan nearly drops into a defensive stance. I place my hand on his arm to settle him. As I walk closer, I can see the faint feathering of long hair cascading over a woman’s shoulders. The door blocks her from full view, but at least it isn’t more security personnel. I pull the door open, and my jaw drops. “Holy shit.”
Kinsey laughs. Her big mate, Jonah, stands behind her like he’s her own personal bodyguard. “Well, that’s quite a welcome.”
I throw my arms around her, sticking my face in her auburn hair. She squeezes me in return. I haven’t seen her since she left, and it’s been too long.
“I texted you this morning, but you didn’t write me back,” she playfully scolds as she steps backward.
I rake my gaze over her bright expression. Being free suits her. “I lost my phone.”
She drops her head. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” I grumble. If she only knew how I did it…. Her open face makes me want to spill everything. From the very first moment she got to Greystone, I knew we were going to be great friends, and I also know she had her own issues with the mate laws.
As I mull that over, she says, “Jonah had to come here on business because of the Winter Solstice coming up, and then we heard about the wolf who tried to escape, which clued me in to the fact that you were here. You should’ve told me you were coming.”
Duh. Of course Jonah would be traveling to Daybreak. As part of his alpha’s security, it would only make sense that he would join them.
Kinsey glances past me and waves at Nathan. “Hey,” she greets brightly.
“Hey,” he states, and I can tell he’s trying to put effort into welcoming her, but there’s just so much shit going on.
“Sorry, a lot is happening,” I tell her.
Kinsey glances between the two of us. “I figured. That’s why I made Jonah take a break so we could visit you guys. You must be devastated.”
I peer at Jonah. I’ve only met him a couple of times, and the last time I saw him, he nearly took Nathan’s head off because he happened to be sitting on Kinsey’s bed. Obviously, the possessive mate thing was in full swing, so it was no one’s fault, but I also don’t know if I can trust him enough to mention something against mate law.
Kinsey recognizes my hesitation. “Let’s go for a walk. I hear you’re on house arrest.”
“Unless my mate gets me or a chaperone.”
“Well, call me a chaperone, then.”
“Kinsey,” Jonah warns.
“We’ll just walk around the house. No big deal,” she explains, tapping her huge shifter’s chest.
He bends to her will, and I totally love it. He’s so big and burly, but anyone can see what a soft spot he has for her.
Kinsey hooks her arm with mine, and we turn toward the door when she says, “You too, Nathan. Don’t you want to catch up with an old friend?”
What Nathan needs is a padded room that he can go crazy in. Tear shit up. Hit stuff. Yell into a void. We don’t have any of that here.
My stomach tightens in knots as we start a slow walk, skirting the forest. Jonah gives the three of us privacy, but he doesn’t actually leave us alone. After a while, Kinsey says, “Listen, I only had Jonah stay back since it looked like you guys were wary of him. He’s on Team Rejected Mate. Trust me. He gets it.”
I make Kinsey stop. I’m so full of pent-up bullshit that I have to get it out. I was there for Kinsey when she talked about Jonah, and I’ve missed that connection between the two of us.
“Alright, spill,” she demands when she sees my face.
“Everything’s so fucked,” I tell her.
“Mia,” Nathan warns, nearly echoing Jonah’s earlier caution.
“She can trust me,” Kinsey retorts, glaring at him. “And you can, too. You know it.” She lowers her voice. “I heard they’re going to punish Robbie. It’s bullshit.”
I wish that was the only thing I had to worry about. I run my hands through my hair. Jonah is respectfully keeping his distance, but I’m pretty sure if he wanted to overhear us, he could. “It’s so much more than that, Kinsey. Lydia Greystone decided to put a time limit on how much longer I’ll be welcome at Greystone. I have eight days to get my mate back or I’m going Feral.”
Bless her heart, her mouth drops, then it turns into a snarl that instantly gets Jonah’s attention.
He’s prowling toward us when I say, “And he kidnapped me last night to try to sever our bond magically.”
“The fuck?”
Yeah. My sentiments exactly.
18
After shooing Jonah away and explaining to him she was fine, like, three different times, Nathan, Kinsey, and I are sitting down in a couple of Adirondack chairs that circle a firepit.
“Your mate kidnapped you?”
“Drugged me,” I tell her. “We were at a party. I was drunk but not—”
“Oh, you were drunk,” Nathan interrupts.
“Okay, fine. I was drunk. I had too much, but not enough to make me black out. He drugged my last drink. The next thing I knew, we were in the middle of a field, and there was this weirdly dressed woman there chanting with her own set of drums. He told me she was going to remove our mate bond.”
Kinsey gasps. “What happened?”
“They didn’t get that far. Nathan found me,” I say, peeking over at him. He seems more amenable to me spilling my guts to Kinsey, but I don’t think he’d like it if I told her we were together. Plus, I don’t want to pull her into too much of my drama. Plausible deniability. If anyone finds out about Nathan and me, the only people who are going down are the two of us.
“Shit,” Kinsey says, worrying her lip. “So, he probably wants to break the bond so he can be with your mate,” she guesses, turning her attention toward Nathan.
He huffs. “That’s still the working theory, but we haven’t been able to gather any evidence.”
“That’s how I lost my phone,” I inform her. “I actually was recording it, but now I have no idea where it is. Probably left in the field somewhere.”
“Listen,” Nathan says, barreling ahead. “It’s not just about a missing phone. She needs a way to communicate with me. Us,” he clarifies. “Sean called, and he’s taking her to her parents’ tonight for dinner. She has to go, or it will look suspicious, but he already tried something with her once.”
Kinsey lifts her shoulders and lets out a long breath. On the exhale, she calls Jonah over. “You know how I can tell you anything and you won’t ask questions?”
“I actually don’t think I ever—”
She holds her hand up to stop him, and Jonah smirks. She gives him a placating smile in return. “Babe, I need you to get Mia a phone, and I also need to accompany her to dinner ton
ight.”
“Fucking genius,” I mutter.
Jonah eyes all of us. “You’re going to dinner with Mia tonight?”
“Yes. Mia and her mate.”
“I doubt they want you on their date.”
“Oh, it’s not a date,” she says. “Trust me.”
“Kinsey, I don’t—”
“—want to leave me alone? Perfect. You’re coming, too.” She turns toward me. “Your parents won’t mind two extra bodies at the table, will they? I’m sure they’d like to see that happy endings do come out of Greystone.”
My lips peel apart into a healthy smile. I knew I liked this girl. “I’m sure they’ll be more than happy.”
Nathan seems a little appeased. He even smirks when Kinsey reminds Jonah that he has to get me a phone. Jonah calls someone, whom he addresses as trainee, and tells them to bring one.
“Thank you,” I tell Kinsey. “I don’t know what to do. As usual, academy students are looked at like second-class citizens, so I can’t even tell anyone because they wouldn’t believe me. They’ll take Sean’s word for it since he’s the one who did the rejecting.”
Kinsey shakes her head. “The whole system is screwed up. And Lydia gave you a timeline?” Her words turn to ice.
“Just out of the blue. Your Ms. Ebon has been kind of nice, though.”
She reaches out to touch my purple hair. She must guess that this was all her old advisor’s doing. A scowls returns right after as she meets my gaze. “So, you have a mate who’s trying to get rid of the bond and a ticking time bomb over your head that says you’re going Feral? It’s not like they’re going to let you back in the pack unless idiot boy accepts you.”
“Exactly. I’ll have to go Feral either way.”
Nathan growls. I want to reach over and comfort him, but that would be a mistake. Kinsey glances between the two of us. “I want to help you. I don’t know what I can do right now other than make sure Sean doesn’t kidnap you again.”
Tears linger behind my heated eyes, threatening to spill over. “We’re worried he might do worse if he can’t sever the bond.”
“What does he think he’ll accomplish with that, anyway? It’s not like you’ll be free.”
My jaw hardens, and I breathe through my nose to try to steel my words. “He doesn’t care. He knows I’ll go Feral, but he’s only looking to not feel badly about it when I do.”
Kinsey’s mouth parts. She looks like she could strangle someone. “So, he feels it. He just acts like he doesn’t?”
“Pretty much. Not that I care because I don’t want him, anyway.” My lips thin. “His poor wolf, though,” I add. “I saw him when I first got here, and his wolf forced a shift. He told me it was the first time his wolf had come out since he rejected me.”
Kinsey’s mouth pops open. “He’s going against his wolf?” She shakes her head. “That’s not good.”
I saw the way his wolf looked at me. Sean and his true shifter form are at odds. It’s not both of them, so I should stop imagining Sean getting hit by a bus. If he gets ran over, so does his wolf.
A few minutes later, Jonah walks toward the driveway. We watch as a silver sedan pulls up, and there’s a short exchange before the car drives away again. Jonah makes his way to us and hands me a burner phone, but Nathan plucks it from my fingers to set it up. “Sean will be here soon. Make sure you’re prepared. I’ll get this going for you.”
“Thank you,” I tell him. I then peek at Kinsey and Jonah. “You guys, too.”
Kinsey waves my gratitude away. If it wouldn’t be over-the-top, I’d throw myself at her again. She’s like a life preserver in the middle of the ocean, and I haven’t even seen the girl in months.
She asks if I need to get changed, and I tell her I’m not allowed to wear anything else. Her gaze narrows. “Not that you wanted to dress up for him, anyway.”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t even bother rolling your skirt.”
I chuckle at her reference. Her first morning at Greystone, I told her to roll the top of her skirt a couple of times because the length was too modest. She’s right about that. I’m letting it all out, showing off my Band-Aids so he can see what he did to me.
Exactly an hour later after my mate’s call, Sean’s green SUV pulls up to the cabin. Kinsey gets to her feet. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell him we’re coming.”
“You were serious about that?” Jonah asks. “I have to check in.”
“With your dad?” She smirks. “Just tell him I need you tonight. He’ll be okay with it.”
“Thank the universe he never had any girls. He’d be wrapped around their fingers, too.”
Kinsey smiles. She and Jonah walk forward as Nathan holds back on my wrist. He glares over my head when Sean’s vehicle shuts off, and he passes me the phone. “Be safe. Okay?”
I squeeze his hand, making sure my body is blocking everyone else’s view. “I’ll be fine.”
Before we can drag out the goodbye, I turn around. Kinsey and Jonah are already introducing themselves. I get there at the good part when my friend beams and announces, “Thanks so much for inviting us over for dinner tonight.”
Sean’s gaze shutters, and he peeks at me briefly. I smile at him. “Kinsey just got into town,” I relay as an excuse. I don’t want him to think that I called in reinforcements. Though, I doubt his mind went there since mate bonds are a private topic. I’m sure he hasn’t thought of me discussing him with anyone.
He’d be wrong.
“So, we’ll follow you?” Jonah asks. Without waiting for an answer, he grabs Kinsey’s hand to lead her to their car.
“Oh no,” Kinsey pouts. “I’d much rather get a tour of Daybreak from someone who’s lived here. You don’t mind, do you, Sean?”
He swallows, clearly not happy. He doesn’t show it though. “No problem at all.” His forced smile thins when he turns.
Jonah slides Kinsey a delicate look while they move toward Sean’s car. I shimmy into the passenger seat as Jonah opens Kinsey’s door for her, then walks around the back to get in on the other side. I glare at Sean—not because I actually care about him being my mate or anything, but just to point out the obvious differences between them. Sean never deserved a mate. He should’ve been one of the ones to go mateless his whole life. Especially since he’d rather break the connection than deal with his feelings.
Like the good host and hostess we are, Sean takes the long way to my parents’ house, and I point out things to Jonah and Kinsey, playing the part. Eventually, we pull up to my parents’ house. A cloud of uncertainty passes over me.
I used to find so much joy here, but all of that has been ripped away by something I had no control over.
Like it’s some sort of competition, Sean jumps out of the SUV and jogs around the car. He opens the door for me, and I narrow my eyes. With no pretense whatsoever, he grabs my hand and yanks me toward him. He smells like alcohol. Now that I’ve gotten a good look at him, he hasn’t shaved. He’s barely even done his hair. He’s just this side of being manic. “Nice try, Mia,” he confesses. “I wasn’t going to do anything, anyway.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I snap. “Kinsey’s a friend from the academy, nothing more.” Louder, I ask, “Did Kinsey tell you that Jonah’s security for his alpha? That’s why they’re here.”
My mate narrows his eyes at me, and it’s as if I can see the wheels turning in his head, like he’s trying to decide if he should believe me or not.
Kinsey nods, meeting us in front of the car, holding hands with Jonah. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she says happily. “I would’ve died of boredom if you weren’t.”
Jonah gives her a playful elbow, and we all head up the curving concrete walkway. When we get to the door, I freeze. I don’t know if I should ring the doorbell or just stride inside. Why did things have to become so complicated? I’m a stranger in my own home.
Kinsey notices my reservation and asks Sean a question, stalling so I can get a hold of myse
lf. Before I can think too much about it, I push the door open and let us inside.
My mother comes walking from the backroom. “Just in time.” Her voice trails off as her stare stops on my friends. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are.”
“This is Kinsey and Jonah,” I tell her. “They’re from Lunar. They’re mates.”
“Mia and I met at Greystone,” Kinsey supplies.
I didn’t want to out her like that if she didn’t want me to, but that seems to be one thing Kinsey doesn’t back down from. Yes, she was at Greystone, but look at her now.
“It’s nice to meet you. I hope we won’t be a bother. Jonah and I are in town for the Winter Solstice.” She lowers her voice. “He’s security for our alpha.”
My mom peers at Jonah like she can well imagine that’s what his job is.
I swallow the lessening lump in my throat. Mother won’t say anything now that Kinsey has dropped that they’re not only from a different pack, but that they’re kind of special, too. She shakes Kinsey’s hand and then Jonah’s. “I’ll set two more plates. No problem at all.”
My mother takes off, and Kinsey drops back to be with me. Jonah steps right in and starts talking to Sean as the four of us make our way to the dining room. Whatever my mother is serving, it smells delicious. She taught herself how to cook just so she could have amazing parties where everyone would compliment her all night long.
When we’re seated, I sigh in relief. Kinsey and Jonah really saved my ass. Their being here means Sean’s not going to try anything with me, and it takes the pressure off seeing my parents again.
When my father walks into the room, he gives me a small smile. He actually comes up to me, leans over, and kisses my cheek. Surprise ricochets through me, but I pat his hand on my shoulder as a little bright spot enters my day.
It doesn’t make the reality of my situation any better to swallow, though. Either I find evidence to turn Sean in or I leave everyone behind as a Feral wolf.
19
